ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL

I'm feeling like one VERY BLESSED mom. My kids have had some pretty awesome opportunities because of their school, but so far our most recent one takes the cake. Three of my kids currently participate in a program called Fuel Up to Play 60 (or FUTP60 for short). FUTP60 is a program sponsored by the NFL and the National Dairy Council to promote health, wellness, and leadership amongst students - from elementary school to high school. As part of the program, the kids meet together a couple of times a month and work towards different goals to build a healthier school. Their current project: the school garden. Every time they reach new achievement, students participating in FUTP60 are awarded points. So many points earns them different opportunities within the program. And at the beginning of the month, two of my three were selected to participate in the FUTP60's Cardinals Kids Combine (with only twenty other students from the state of Arizona). The kids trained at the Cardinals stadium with one of the teammates, Justin Murray. They ran drills and received advice from the Cardinals Youth Manager, Coach Mo. And they even squared off against the main man himself, Big Red. It was seriously such a treat to attend and act as photographer for the Kids Combine.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

RAGNAR. Where to begin? Back in JUNE, I befriended a former teacher from my children's school. She invited me to come running with her and some of her gym friends (and then she didn't even show up until the very end). But friendships were quickly established and I became one of the pack. We did a few trail runs during the summer, where it was mentioned that I should join their Ragnar team as a pacer. So I did. Then, just a couple of weeks shy of the race itself, one of the teammates sustained an injury that prevented her from running in the race. I was moved from the role of a pacer to an actual teammate and, oh what a ride it was! The eight teammates ran a total of 124 miles in just under 27 hours. Day and night, we had someone out running in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. I ran at 2pm, 11pm, and 8am. I felt so many emotions in the 30 hours we were there: excitement, nervousness, exhaustion, elation, pride, frustration. It was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to go again next year! Bonus moment: running into a college friend whom I haven't seen in about 15 years. I'm so grateful that I had this bucket list opportunity with some of the greatest people that I know.

A WIZARD'S HALLOWEEN

I'm not quite sure how I succeeded in doing it, but I was able to convince ALL SIX that we should continue the Halloween tradition of a family theme and attempt a Harry Potter Halloween. Not wanting to spend a fortune, I ordered robes from AliExpress (thank you, China) and hit several Goodwills in order to piece together our costumes. I had even planned to dress up myself (Professor Trelawney, if you may), BUT an accidental color and cut to my hair ultimately resulted in me just wearing a themed shirt. We have: a Hufflepuff student, Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, a Slytherin quidditch player, Newt Scamander, and a Ravenclaw student. We had such a great Halloween and are already brainstorming ideas for next year...

BEYOND BELATED

Oh snap. I have failed at blogging for the past several months, which means I never gave a proper shout-out to my oldest two. Both are in double digits now, with the oldest turning 11 (at the beginning of October) shortly after my second turned 10 (at the end of September). J is a man of many trades. He's into sports, acting, and games. Plays the french horn, is in choir, and is on student council. He's talented, intelligent, and ambitious. He loves science and, last I checked, wants to be a chemist when he grows up. L is the underdog. Often in J's shadow, he is just as talented, intelligent, and ambitious as his brother - though sometimes in different ways. He is fascinated with how things work, building things, and learning about reptiles. He sees things in a different way and gives our family a different perspective. Both are great kids and add so much personality to our family.